Fear drives me.

There, I said it.

I’m worried all the time. I know the venture industry’s changing. I know startups keep changing. I know that we can’t all just sit in DC, San Francisco or NYC anymore. On top of that all, I know there’s someone else out there that’s just a little bit hungrier than me.Ā So I focus on doingĀ the things that no one else is doing… yet… (e.g., hauling an Airstream around North America) to try to stay one step ahead of the curve.

In many ways, the most successfulĀ founders I’ve met tend to share a similar mindset: they’re more self-aware and more relentlessly resourceful. They use those two traits to speed up their execution personally and professionally.

A sense of urgency is the most important thing we can bring to any entrepreneur.Ā TheĀ challenge, however, is that each entrepreneur needs slightly different inputs to drive that urgency. For me, it’s that constant fear. For others, it’s a chip on their shoulder. Everyone’s different, you get it.

Every city I’ve visited seems to haveĀ resources for people that might want to start something. Sometimes they also have resources for people that have already started something. What’s lacking are resources for importing urgency to a city’s entrepreneurs.

I’ve said before thatĀ Iā€™m not sure that entrepreneurship can be taught but I do know that it can be learned. I think the same thing goes for that sense of urgency. If we could get more entrepreneurs — regardless of whether they want to build a local business or a venture-scaled business — to meet and know their peers, I’m convinced it would only speed up their path to success.